


Marauders Year Two

by TheMusicalTrash



Series: Marauders Series [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Gryffindor, Hogwarts, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Pranks and Practical Jokes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:40:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26990785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMusicalTrash/pseuds/TheMusicalTrash
Summary: ~~~~~~~Book Two of the Marauders Series~~~~~~~The Marauders are back at it again in the year 1972. The summer had the boys separated, but with them together again there are sure to be some crazy pranks. The new term brings a lot of change and some surprising discoveries, but will these discoveries drive apart the boys?*Contains light swearing and themes of child abuse (warnings will always be provided)*
Series: Marauders Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1336576
Kudos: 2





	1. House of Black

**Author's Note:**

> *Warning for Child Abuse at the Beginning of Chapter One* if you would like to skip it there will be a '~~~~~~' at the start and end of that part of the chapter. Happy Reading!

In a seemingly normal neighborhood, there was one oddity. The houses numbered eleven and thirteen sat next to each other, that is to the muggle eye. However, to the wizards, there was in fact a 12 Grimmauld Place on the street and in that house lived the most noble and ancient house of Black. 

The exterior of the house was a big teller to the inhabitants within. It was a tall, grey, looming house which lay on a street full of secrets. Likewise, the head of the household, Orion Black, was a tall man with a looming personality. The wear in his brow was a subtle tell to just how much of his time was spent frowning. Forever by his side, Walburga was a picture-perfect wife. She was very respectful in her own regard, but over time the scowl she wore became permanent. 

They had only two children, both boys and they named them after the stars. The eldest, Sirius was slowly becoming the family disgrace. He was raised to become the primary inheritor of the Black legacy, but it seemed that he was reluctant to fulfill that job. Sirius’ brother, Regulus was much more willing to become the man his parents expected of him, but surprisingly this did not create a rift between the brothers.

Summer at 12 Grimmauld Place was less than pleasant for Sirius Black. From the second he left Platform nine and three quarters, Sirius was under fire for being in Gryffindor. He had heard most of his family’s argument during the Christmas holiday, but they were far from done. Sirius tried, at least at first, to bite his tongue and not argue, but he was stubborn from birth. Not even a week into the holiday, Orion and Walburga Black were getting into it with their son, but this time was the most aggressive to date.

“Associating with blood traitors!” his father screamed. “What the hell are you thinking!”

“You are tarnishing our good name at every opportunity,” his mother chimed in.

“If it wasn’t bad enough you are a Gryffindor, but then I see you getting off the train with the rest of your disgraceful friends,” he screamed. “You know, when we had dinner with your Narcissa and the Malfoy boy, they mentioned to us you were making bad decisions, but this is far worse than anything I could imagine. You spend your time with disgusting half-breeds, and I-”

“They’re not disgusting,” Sirius mumbled.

“What was that?” Orion bellowed incredulously.

~~~~~~

“I said, they’re not disgusting,” he said a little louder, but he did not even have the time to feel proud of himself before a harsh slap was delivered on his face. Visibly shocked, Sirius stumbled back a few steps away from his mother. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He felt defeated.

“There’s more where that came from if you don’t shut up!” Walburga said.

“When I saw you get off the train with those kids, my blood boiled, Sirius!” Orion sighed. “I honestly thought you couldn’t bring any more disappointment upon our name, but you proved me wrong. Maybe Regulus can bring some honor back into our family.”

“Leave Regulus out of this,” Sirius said.

Orion strode forward quickly to seize hold of Sirius’ hair. Grabbing close to the nape of his neck, he pulled harshly causing Sirius to cry out. “You don’t tell me what to do boy, you should know better than that!” his father ground out, he was close enough for Sirius to feel his hot breath on his face. “I bet you regret defying us by growing out your hair. Now, I do not want to hear another word out of you for the rest of this conversation or I’ll–”

Sirius felt the anger in his body reaching the surface. He was a stubborn kid and that always got him in trouble at home. “You’ll what?” Sirius spat out through the pain.

His father released his grip on Sirius’ hair and for a split second relief flooded the young boy’s body. The relief was short-lived as Orion’s arm reared back, the hit landing squarely on his son’s temple. 

Sirius backed himself into the sofa which was behind him. He reached a hand up tentatively to touch his temple. When the blood came back he looked at his parents in disgust. “What the f–”

“Choose that next word carefully!” His mother warned. “You know good and well that vile words have no place in a proper household.”

Quickly walking towards the staircase, Sirius rushed to beat his parents to his room. Unfortunately, Sirius’ foot never touched the bottom stair before Orion drew his wand out.

With a quick slice through the air, purple flames burst from his wand and sliced Sirius across the ribcage. With his knees already buckling, Sirius dropped to the floor. “Consider yourself lucky, Sirius,” Orion said once he was close enough to whisper. “I’m going to let you go upstairs and rethink your perspective.”

~~~~~~

Struggling to stand, but not daring to show weakness, Sirius got to his feet. Once he got to the top of the steps and turned the corner, he fell at the feet of his younger brother.

“You really got into it with them this time,” Regulus extended his hand towards his beaten down brother.

“You could say that,” Sirius laughed for a second, but stopped from the pain it brought. His vision was a little hazy but with his brother’s assistance, he made it to his bedroom.

“Well don’t you look right attractive all beaten up,” Regulus laughed while he muttered some healing charms.

“The good looks come naturally, Reg, I don’t know what else to tell you,” A signature Sirius smirk was delivered to his brother, but with his face all bruised up it was hard for his brother to take him seriously.

Regulus sighed, “Why can’t you keep your mouth shut! Do you think I like having to find my older brother looking like this?” Tears brimmed his eyes, but not a single one dared to fall.

“Look I’m sorry, but I have to stick up for my friends. They’re like my family,” he paused when he saw his brother’s face. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. You’re my family, but Mother and Father, not so much.”

“It wouldn’t be so bad if you at least went along with them,” Regulus’s voice was quieter when he suggested this.

“I don’t know,” Sirius said skeptically.

“Just… consider it,” Regulus said finally. Tying one last wrap around Sirius’ ribs, Regulus was finished. “Sorry about the bandages, I’m not so good with healing charms.”

“You’ll get better once you get to Hogwarts!”

“So why is it that you’re still rubbish at them,” Regulus laughed.

“Hey,” Sirius said elbowing his brother. “That is so unfair, I can hex circles around you.”

“Is that so?” Regulus’ voice took a challenging tone. “Willing to test that theory?”

“You bet,” Sirius said, the gleam finally returning to his stormy grey eyes. “But there’s no way we can go out the front door, I have a feeling our parents haven’t quite gotten over our little dispute.”

“Well, out the window we go then,” Regulus shrugged. “That is if you’re not too scared.”

“Oh please, I just hope you can keep up!” Sirius said pulling himself to his feet with only a small wince. “Alohomora,” Sirius said quickly to unlatch the window.

“You could have done that with your hand,” Regulus said with a pout.

“Yeah, but magic is so much more fun.” Sirius was already out on the roof, sliding down towards the trellis with his brother close behind. 

The two boys raced each other down the streets of London, managing to make a competition out of the journey. Eventually, the boys made it to a set of hills in a more secluded place. Years ago, the brothers discovered this place when they were bored during the summer. Ever since that day, the pair would go back to that place anytime they wanted to have some fun without the watchful eye of their parents and legacy looming over them.

“We made it!” Sirius screamed into the clear air knowing that he was free from judgment and far from home. 

“I missed this place while you were away,” Regulus said as he leaned against the base of a nearby tree.

“You never came out here while I was at Hogwarts?”

“Nah, it wouldn’t feel right without you, besides Mum and Dad barely let me get away from the house.”

“I believe it,” Sirius laughed. “I’m just glad I don’t have to do home lessons now that I’m in school.”

“Yeah,” Regulus sighed. “I can’t wait for September! It’ll be nice to have a teacher who isn’t our mom, or Aunty Druella.”

“It’s, uh- really good that you’re excited,” Sirius said.

“Are you not excited?”

“No! I love Hogwarts, of course, I’m glad I’m going back.”

“I mean about me coming,” Regulus said. “Do you not want me there?”

“Reg, things are gonna be different when you are there, you know that.”

“Only if I’m sorted into Slytherin,” He protested.

“For your sake, let’s hope you are,” Sirius said. “Now,” Sirius stood up and walked away from the tree. “Wands at the ready?”

Regulus quickly stood up to get ready. “On three! One...”

“Two, three,” Sirius shouted. “Expelliarmus!”

“That’s cheating, Sirius!” Regulus laughed. “I’ll hex you!”

“Not if I hex you first,” Sirius countered. For the next hour or so, the boys ran about chasing each other before eventually flopping over in exhaustion. Neither one of them landed a single hex in the time they had been there, but they had fun nonetheless.

Once they had properly cooled down under the shade of a tree, the boys made the trip back to their home. Somehow, the looming Black house seemed even more daunting than when they left it. Even still, the boys went back the way they came, landing safely within the confines of Sirius’ room.

For the next few weeks, things were calm in the Sirius’ home, or at least calm by his standards. There had, of course, been several more arguments between Sirius and his parents, but this frequency had become pretty normal to everyone in the house. All things considered, nothing truly interesting happened in the house until mid-August.

“Just two more weeks until I’m free again and now they decide to have dinner!” Sirius exclaimed. 

“You know how they are,” Regulus sighed. “Besides, it might be nice to hear from our cousins. I hear Narcissa is to be engaged soon.”

“To Malfoy? She’s only just graduated!” 

“Yeah, but they get on rather well, and it will be good for the family.”

“You sound just like Mother and Father,” Sirius groaned. “It will solidify our bloodline,” he mocked.

“Hey, you’re gonna have to cover that crap on your face before they get here,” Regulus said.

Sirius raised his hand to touch the bruise over his eye from the last time his father and he got in an argument. “Well, what the bloody hell am I supposed to do, steal mum’s powder?”

“You could…” Regulus laughed. “Or you could use a glamour.”

“I’m not very good at them,” Sirius’ tone was skeptical.

“Better a lousy glamor than none at all.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Sirius said with a shrug. When all was said and done, the glamour worked pretty well, it would suffice for the dinner at least. “Reg, your dress robes are covered in lint!” Sirius said when he finally took in his brother’s appearance.

“Well last time I wore them I pissed of Kreacher, then he put them next to my winter jumpers after they were washed. Do you think mum and dad will notice?”

“Are you kidding? If they don’t dear Aunty will, you know how strict she is!”

“Well what exactly am I supposed to do about it, it’s not as if I can pick them all off individually, dinner starts in half an hour,” Regulus sounded slightly hysterical.

“Will you calm down and come over here.” Sirius laughed. Once his brother was close he rustled through his wardrobe before pulling something out. “It’s called a lint roller, it’s a muggle invention.”

“I don’t think our parents would appreciate you messing about with muggle items, Sirius.”

“And that’s exactly why you’re not going to say anything to them about it!” Sirius retorted, starting the process of getting the lint off of his brother.

“Okay fine! Where did you even get that?”

“From a third-year muggle-born, she was a Hufflepuff.”

“Merlin, don’t worry I’m not going to tell. We both know how furious our family would be if they find out you do business with mudbloods.” 

“I’d hardly call it ‘doing business’, she gave it to me free of charge,” Sirius laughed internally at how serious Regulus took their parents. “And we’re done! You are lint-free.”

“Wow, that actually worked pretty well,” Regulus admired the work of the muggle invention.

“Of course it did!” Sirius boasted. “Despite what our parents so diligently preach, muggles are not entirely useless”

A knock on the door sent Sirius scrambling to put away the lint roller, “Just a minute!” He projected. His voice in a tone that did not show any signs of panic.

“Okay, you may come in,” Regulus said once he was sure that the muggle item was out of sight.

The door creaked open rather slowly and in the doorway stood Kreacher, the family's house-elf, which was just a rich person’s phrase to avoid saying the word slave. Kreacher had been with the Black family since around the time Regulus was born, taking the position when the elf’s mother was too old to serve as useful. That is not to say that the family had not had prior elves, in fact, they had several through the generations. To prove that very fact, the heads of household over time had mounted the heads of the previous house-elves. 

Kreacher cleared his voice before speaking, “Master and Mistress Black requests your presence downstairs”

“So soon?” Sirius inquired. “Surely our family has not arrived yet.”

“Better if we listen,” Regulus laughed. “Thank you Kreacher, we will be down momentarily.”

“Of course Master Regulus,” the elf dragged in his gravelly voice before leaving the room.

“We better leave, lest we be late for dinner,” Regulus said.

“I don’t know how we would be late when our family members are not even here,” Sirius grumbled. “But as usual, you’re right, let’s go. I wouldn’t want our parents to be mad at us before we’ve even started eating.” 

The two went downstairs to see an empty dining table, it became clear that they would have to set it while their parents finished preparing for the arrival of their family members. 

“I will never understand why we must use so many damn forks,” Sirius said.

“Don’t speak so loudly, I know you don’t want Mum and Dad to go over our table manners again.”

“I don’t need another lesson, Reg. But why the hell are we in charge of this anyway, is this not why we have a house-elf?”

“I think he’s cooking the meal, but who knows?” Regulus laughed. “Can you do the napkins, Sirius? I can’t fold them all fancy like you can.”

“However did you manage without me,” Sirius teased.

“Oh shove off and fold the napkins,” Regulus said while laying down glasses at each place setting.

Soon enough, everything was in order and the family was awaiting the arrival of their guests. After some critical once-overs from their parents, the two brothers were deemed appropriate for dinner. In only a few moments there was a knock at the door, and in walked the brother of Walburga, Cygnus Black, along with his wife Druella. With them, they brought their three daughters Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa. As was to be expected, everyone came dressed in their very best. 

“It is good to see you all well,” Druella nodded towards Sirius and Regulus.

“And lovely to see you all as well,” Sirius dipped his head slightly towards his Aunt and Uncle, his brother mimicking the action.

While the adults stepped to the side to speak more privately, the brothers stepped towards their cousins.

“Bella!” Sirius said looking at the eldest of the sisters who was now 21 but remained unmarried. “How long has it been?”

“Still as childish as always I see,” Bellatrix said, but there was a trace of a smile on her face.

“Pay no mind to her,” Andromeda laughed. She was only three years younger than Bellatrix but shared none of her sour attitudes. Contrary to her family she almost always carried a pleasant expression and held similar values as Sirius did on muggles, though she kept that secret from her family. “She’s just jealous.”

“Jealous,” Bellatrix said incredulously, her eyes opened wide enough for her incredibly large dark brown eyes to peer into her younger sister. “And what pray tell am I jealous of, Andromeda?”

“Of Cissy’s engagement.”

“It’s not official just yet,” Narcissa was visibly blushing.

“But he is going to ask you,” Sirius said. “Seriously, nearly everyone knows about it at Hogwarts.”

“I’m surprised you get that side of gossip where you are in school,” it was abundantly clear that Bellatrix was alluding to Sirius being a member of Gryffindor, but everyone decided to not mention it.

“Official or not, congratulations, Narcissa,” Regulus said sincerely. “I know I speak for our whole family when I say, we are so happy for you.”

“Thank you, Regulus,” Narcissa smiled. 

“Yes yes nothing, but joy fills my heart with this betrothal,” Bellatrix said. “Despite accusations made prior,” she laughed looking at Andromeda, “I am over the moon for you and Lucius, plus I have already started helping Mum plan the ceremony.”

“Really?” Narcissa said genuinely shocked.

“Yes!” Bellatrix sounded excited. “But if Mum asks you, I never told you,” Bella warned.

“My lips are sealed.”

“As are mine,” Andromeda piped in.

“Us too I guess,” Sirius laughed. “All that being said, I think we are needed in the dining room right about now.”

Fortunately, the dinner conversation steered away from Hogwarts and Sirius’s unfortunate sorting. Instead, they mostly discussed Narcissa’s love life. Despite such a happy talking point, Andromeda seemed uncomfortable for much of the discussion, something that seemed suspicious to Sirius, who had always been closer to her than either of her sisters.

“Mother and Father,” Sirius said when there was a lull in the conversation near the end of the meal. “May Andromeda and I please be excused? I have a new Arithmancy book I wanted to show her.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Orion said. “Assuming it’s alright with you as well?” Orion looked towards Cygnus.

“Fine by me,” He assured. “You two can go ahead.”

Once the two of them were safely in the privacy of Sirius’ bedroom, the mood changed.

“What the hell is up with you?” Sirius questioned.

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“Andromeda, will you just tell me? Whatever it is can’t be worse than the shit I’ve done in my first year at Hogwarts,” Sirius laughed and the tension lifted significantly.

“I suppose that’s true,” Andromeda laughed tensely. “But this is bad. Really bad. Sirius, I don’t know what I’m going to do!”

“Relax relax, what is it? We can figure it out, what did you do?”

“I’ve fallen in love,” she whispered.

“That’s fantastic!”

“No it’s not, he’s a muggle-born.”

“Oh,” Sirius spoke much quieter. “So when did this happen?”

“Well, we met at Hogwarts, but it wasn’t until I ran into him at a pub that we really got to talking. We’ve been dating for nearly a year and I just know he’s the one!”

“Wow, I- I don’t know what to say. I mean, of course, I am so happy for you. He must be really special.”

“He is…” Andromeda said. “His name is Ted Tonks, he was in Hufflepuff.”

“So, what are you gonna do,” Sirius asked. “About our family I mean.”

“I want to be with him, Sirius, and he wants to be with me.” She looked off like she was debating continuing, but after taking a shaky breath she looked at her cousin. “He asked me to marry him, and I said yes.” With new determination, the fire was back in her eyes. “You know what, I’m gonna tell them, and if they don’t accept it, then… to hell with them.”

“I’m proud of you, Andromeda.”

“Thank you, that means a lot,” She smiled. “Now let’s go back down before anyone comes up to find us”


	2. The Hogwarts Train

Joy filled 12 Grimmauld Place on the day of Regulus’s eleventh birthday. It was now confirmed that both brothers would be attending Hogwarts and with all the uncertainty about the upcoming year, Sirius and Regulus could rest assured in the fact that they would have each other. The worry at the forefront of Sirius’ mind, however, was that his brother would be sorted into Slytherin.

It was not that Sirius wanted his brother to be disgraced too, but he knew that if his brother was in Slytherin house, they would not be able to be seen with each other on campus. Something about the prospect of not even having his brother in support of him, at least publicly, made Sirius uneasy. But, nothing could stop the inevitable and with September approaching fast, the could not stop the winds of change.

With the last weeks of summer slowly drifting away, the boys had fewer and fewer things to cross off of their lists. They had both been to Diagon Alley to procure their books, they had already fitted Regulus for his robes and gotten him his very first wand, and they had already made false promises with their parents— or rather, Sirius had. There was no doubt that Regulus would follow his parents’ rules to a tee and not associate himself with any mudbloods, half-breeds, or blood traitors, a rule that Sirius completely disregarded by making friends with his dorm mates.

Nevertheless, all that was left was to pack away all of their belongings neatly into their trunks. Now that Regulus had been gifted a young owl, a courtesy of being the favorite child, Sirius was itching to get away from his insufferable family.

His wishes would be granted on one September 1, 1972, when he along with the rest of his family made the trip to Kings Cross Station.

“Is it bad that I am nervous?” Regulus asked his brother quietly. “I don’t know how I feel about just running at the wall.”

“We have been over this,” their mother scolded, having just overheard her sons’ words. “The only way to get onto platform nine and three quarters is to go through the wall between platforms nine and ten. Now, will you stop wasting time and go!”

“We can go together,” Sirius whispered to his brother. “Come on, let’s go!”

With one hand on the cart carrying their stuff and one hand on his brothers’ back, he guided them straight into the brick wall. Instead of crashing, like Regulus originally thought, the went straight through and out to the other side. As was to be expected this close to the train’s departure, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was bustling with activity. As Regulus took in the sight of all the other students and families around him, his parents came up from behind.

“Sirius, you can go get on the train, we are going to talk to your brother,” Orion said in a tone that left no room for argument.

Sirius held his hands up in mock surrender before turning on his heels to head towards the train. He shook his head as the fact really settled in that he would never be his parents’ chosen child.

Heading towards the back of the train he found what was becoming the Marauders’ compartment with only James sitting in it.

“Finally!” James exclaimed. “I was starting to think I would be alone in our dorms this year”

Sirius laughed easily knowing he was safe from the critical eye of his parents. “As if you could get that lucky, you’re stuck with me.”

Gesturing to the empty space next to him, Sirius took the hint and sat down. “I’m surprised you beat me here, James. Usually, you’re the last to show.”

“That’s what my mum and dad said, so this year they brought me here earlier so I wasn’t late.”

A knock on the glass door of their compartment alerted them to Peter standing outside in the train corridor.

“Come in, Pete!” James laughed. “You don’t have to knock by the way.”

“Oh well I- I didn’t want to just barge in…” He said sheepishly. 

“You’re good, Peter,” Sirius said as his dorm mate sat across from James. “You’re family, you don’t have to knock.”

“Merlin, Sirius! Don’t get all mushy this early. We haven’t even made it to school yet,” James was dissolved into a laughter that put the three of them in stitches.

“What happened here?” Remus mused when he walked in as the giggles were subsiding.

“Remus!” Sirius shouted. “You look,” Sirius paused, looking his friend up and down. He was thin, even more so than usual and he had a scar across his eye that could not have been more than a few weeks old. “You’ve looked better, but it is great to see you,” Sirius said.

“What he said,” James laughed. “It’s nice to have the gang back together!”

“Hell yes!” Sirius cheered.

“Let’s hope Hogwarts can handle us again,” Remus added.

“I just hope Minnie can handle us,” Sirius quipped.

“Oh no,” Remus groaned. “Please tell me you’re not going to call Professor McGonagall ‘Minnie’, she’s gonna kill you.”

“Fine,” Sirius said, dragging out the ‘e’. “But Minerva is blessed to have been granted a nickname by me.”

“Just like Mooney is blessed to have a nickname, courtesy to you?” James inquired.

“Exactly!” Sirius said proudly. “Speaking of Mooney, you alright, mate?”

“Yeah,” James said slowly. “You look pretty thin.”

“I’m fine guys!” Remus said with an eerily calm smile. “Just been a little sick lately.”

“Well I hope you are feeling better,” James laughed. “Because I have some ambitious pranks planned for this year.” A sly grin slid across James’ face, the excitement was clear, and for some reason that made Remus slightly nervous.

“Ah! As do I!” Sirius said excitedly.

“I guess it’s too much to ask for us to just have a normal year,” Remus laughed, shaking his head.

“I guess that depends on what exactly you consider normal,” James shrugged.

“Who are you and what have you done with my best friend,” Sirius laughed. “We haven’t even made it to the first class of term and you’re already getting philosophical!”

“Oh, will you shove off! I’m gonna remind you of this next time you go on a rant about the constellations.”

“Constellations are cool, James, you’re just being an arse.”

“They’re just stars! It literally cannot be any duller than it already is,” James deadpanned in response.

A knock on the cabin door disrupted their argument and one of the prefects walked in with a wide, fake grin plastered across her face.   
“Hello, just a gentle reminder that we are getting close to Hogwarts and you need to change into your robes.” After acknowledging that they heard her, she turned on her heels and left them alone.

“This is not over,” James said with a laugh as he grabbed his back from the overhead storage.

“Oh, believe me, I know!” Sirius retorted.

“Both of you shut up,” Remus said. “James, I don’t think you’re giving stars enough credit. I mean we do have a whole class dedicated to learning about them.”

“Oh sure, just take Sirius’s side,” James mocked. “You always do.”

“Stop whining, I’m not even done,” Remus lectured. “Sirius, you do not have to talk about stars all the damn time. There are other topics, believe it or not.”

“I’m satisfied now,” James said. With that final note, he walked off in search of the bathroom to change.

In only a few more minutes, the train arrived in Hogsmeade Station and all of the students filled out and onto the platform. The overly-excited first years were herded like sheep towards the boats and were grouped off to start their journey. The older students, which now included the Marauders, were directed towards the carriages which were filling up quite quickly.

Seeing a carriage with Lily Evans in it, James pulled the rest of his friend group along to sit with her. She looked slightly displeased to see the group, although the hostility was mostly directed at Sirius and James, but moved over in the seat to make room nonetheless.

“Hey Evans,” James said. 

“Hello James, I see you haven’t changed at all this summer.”

“Don’t mind him, Lily,” Remus laughed. “He is as eager as ever.”

“It is so good to see you,” Lily smiled. “And thank you for writing to me this summer!”

“Of course! Who else could I talk to about literature.” The pair laughed easily and for a moment James questioned if he should get more into reading.

“Lily!” Severus shouted from a few yards away.

“Oh thank Merlin you made it! I told you that you should have changed earlier.”

“I made it didn’t I?” Severus said as he climbed into the carriage.

“Mister Snape,” a professor yelled. “Only five to a carriage, please move along.” Severus was visibly displeased but begrudgingly stepped out onto the ground.

“Sorry Snivellus,” Sirius mocked waving goodbye to the Slytherin boy. After that comment, no one really spoke and the carriages moved towards the castle.

“So how is it that these carriages pull themselves,” James inquired.

“They’re not,” Lily said confused. “Do you not see the creatures?”

“No I don't, Evans,” James said. “Because there is nothing there.”

“James!” Remus cut in. “They’re called thestrals, they can only be seen by someone who has witnessed a death.”

“Oh,” James said quietly. “I guess that makes sense, I’ve just never heard of them before.”

“Wait, Lily?” Sirius said. “Who is it that you’ve seen that died?”

“My cousin, she fell very ill a few years back. A good bunch of my family was there to visit her when she passed.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Lily!” Remus said sincerely and after processing the information, the rest of the Marauders offered their own condolences.

“Thank you guys, really, but I’m okay! It was years ago, and I am just glad she isn’t sick anymore,” If she was lying on their behalf, she sure was not showing it.

The chatter in their carriage was of a much lighter topic for the remainder of the ride and before they knew it, they had arrived at the castle. Hogwarts looked as stunning as ever with the stars in the sky and the candlelit castle in stark contrast to the dark night. As all of the students, save for the first years, entered the castle they could not help, but feel the same wonderment they felt in years prior.

The Marauders, along with Marlene and Lily– the former of which finally caught up to the group– made their way towards the front of the Gryffindor table. Sirius was happy about that decision because he wanted to see his brother get sorted, even if it was into Slytherin.

“I wonder if the first years are nervous, I sure was!” Marlene laughed.

“You were?” Sirius mused.

“Oh yeah! I had no idea what to expect, but I am glad I was sorted with you guys.”

“How sweet,” Lily smiled. “And I have to agree, I did want Slytherin initially, but now I can’t imagine being anywhere, but here!”

“You would not do well in Slytherin,” Sirius said before he could stop himself.

“Because you’re a muggle-born! No offense, but you aren’t exactly their target student.”

“I would be offended, but part of me knows you’re right.”

“Pardon?” Sirius said.

“You’re right.”

“Sorry I couldn’t quite hear you.”

“I know what you’re doing, Black!” Lily tried to sound stern, but a laugh crept up in her voice.“I’m not an idiot.”

“Sorry I just wanted it on record that you admitted I was right,” Sirius remarked with his usual cocky grin.

“Look it’s the first years!” Marlene pointed towards the flow of new students making their way into the Great Hall.

“Sirius, do you see your brother?” Remus asked. 

“I completely forgot your brother was coming this year,” James said. “That must be exciting!”

“It is pretty exciting,” Sirius said, his eyes fervently scanned the crowd as he tried to spot Regulus. “I can’t believe that you remembered that Rem,” Sirius said with a kind laugh.

“Hey! I listen when you talk,” Remus defended. 

“Not when your nose is stuck in a book.”

“Speaking of books,” Lily’s excited voice cut in. “Did you finish that book I suggested?”

“I did! It was lovely, although I did think the ending was rather dull.”

“Oh my god, we’ve lost him,” James said in a fake-shocked tone to Sirius.

“Well if you two are done flirting,” Sirius said gesturing to Remus and Lily, “I’d like to actually watch my brother get sorted.”

“Oh please,” Lily said with a kind laugh. “Remus is like the brother I never had.”

“Evans,” Sirius said plainly. “I would like to pay attention, it’s a rare event so why don’t you quiet down.”

Lily shook her head in a sort of disappointment but nevertheless decided to keep quiet. By now, the Sorting Hat had already finished his song, and the first child was being called up. Even though only two students had gone up previously, Sirius was anxious to see Regulus walk up.

“Black, Regulus!” Professor McGonagall’s stern voice announced. Regulus did not appear nervous, but Sirius could tell that he was slightly uneasy when he sat on the stool.

The hat was only on Regulus’ head for a few seconds when it called out, “SLYTHERIN!”

Regulus’ face broke out in a smile and he scanned the crowd to try and make eye contact with his brother. Unfortunately for him, Sirius had ducked his head down, looking away from his brother, as soon as he heard his house sorting.

“Well at least someone in your family ended up in Slytherin,” Marlene said. She meant well, but she severely misunderstood the gravity of what just happened.

“Shut the hell up McKinnon, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sirius spoke through gritted teeth. Remus put a hand on Sirius’ shoulder to calm him down and it worked– at least for the most part. “Ugh, ‘m sorry Marlene!” Sirius said.

“No no, it’s alright!” Marlene rushed through her words in an attempt to sound more sincere. “I shouldn’t have pressed, that’s my bad!” When Sirius did not seem convinced, Marlene continued, “Seriously, It’s okay.”

Sirius nodded and cracked a half-smile to show his friend that all was well. That small gesture was enough to clear the air with their friends. The group remained pretty quiet for the rest of the sortings, but they did celebrate each new student who joined Gryffindor.

Once each first year was settled in at their table, Dumbledore stood up and grabbed the attention of the room. “A new year at Hogwarts, with so many possibilities!” he began. “For our newest students, I hope that each and every one of you finds your place within these walls. As for those of you who are no longer new, welcome back and welcome home! The term approaches fast, but fear not! School can be a wonderful place for those who are willing to put in a little magic. Before I let you all stuff yourselves, I have a few last reminders.” A groan was heard across the hall, mostly from irritable boys who were impatient to wait for the feast. Ignoring those few students, however, their headmaster continued with his speech. 

“Firstly, the curfew is enforced, so please honor it. As usual, no students are allowed to enter the dormitory of other houses. There are two places on campus that are prohibited unless directed otherwise by a professor, those places are the Forbidden Forest and the Restricted Section in the library. Lastly, all students are to be advised not to go near the whomping willow. That plant has a temper and you will all do well to respect that.” Eyes peering over his half-moon spectacles, Dumbledore scanned the crowd to see that all students are understanding. 

After a moment, he released the students to eat. The meals of the feast magically appearing on each and every silver platter as the first years stared in amazement. Where the Marauders were sitting, no one wasted any time in piling food onto their plates. The boys ate messily while continuing their conversations amongst themselves, much to the displeasure of Lily and Marlene.

The chatter remained constant for the remainder of the feast. Eventually though with the food and conversation dwindling, the students were just about ready to head up to the dormitories. A few minutes earlier, the prefects from each house had taken the first years to discover the dormitories.

With a much quieter atmosphere, the Marauders saw fit to retire to the dorms, when they vocalized that plan, Marlene and Lily decided to go with them. Lily said a quick goodbye to Severus before heading back to the group. As they walked up the stairs and through halls a comfortable nostalgia settled over them. 

“My loudest tenants have arrived I see,” The Fat Lady spoke a good deal louder than she needed to given the time. “Password?”

“Chocolate Frogs,” Remus said. The portrait swung open and the kids took turns crawling through the portrait hole and into the common room.

“I’m wiped,” James said rubbing his eyes under his glasses. “I’m gonna head up.”

“I’ll go with,” Sirius said.

“Me too!” Peter added.

“You coming Mooney?” Sirius asked.

“Nah you guys head up, I think I am going to read down here for a bit.” The rest of his friends headed upstairs while Remus curled up on the couch with his book.

“Mind if I sit with you?” Lily asked holding up a book of her own.

“Not at all, Lils.”

“You two have fun,” Marlene said. “I’m gonna head up, see you later Lily!”

“Goodnight, Marlene!” Lily smiled, cracking open her book.

The only noise was the calm crackle of the fire in front of them. The warmth reminded Remus once again of the feeling of home. The stars in the sky illuminated the dark castle on the first night of the upcoming year. Everyone within Hogwarts knew that the year, as Dumbledore had said, would bring many possibilities.


	3. Back in the Swing of Things

The first week at Hogwarts had gone by quite smoothly and it seemed that all of the students, both new and old, were well adjusted. The Marauders were genuinely happy to be back in the dorm with each other and in only a few days they were already back in their old habits– although Sirius was barely managing to wake up in time every morning.

Nevertheless, each day the boys managed to make it down to their classes only being tardy a few times. Today, the first class on their schedule was Transfiguration, a personal favorite of James’. Since the year had started, Professor McGonagall was secretly happy to have the Marauders back on campus as things always seemed more interesting with them around. But the love of a teacher, or mentor for that matter, is always one of structure and discipline, and in that regard, the professor never fell short.

“It is so nice that we have gotten back into practice with our spellwork!” Professor McGonagall praised. “I would like to commend you all on the tremendous improvement from last year into this one. I do hope you all kept up your practicing in anticipation of this term. While many of you may find it unfortunate, I would like you to all hear me out.” The students, even those who were not paying attention before, began listening now to hear what kind of bad news they would be receiving. “Before we continue learning tangible work, I would first like to discuss techniques and history for a few weeks. That being said, I will be sending you all away with written assignments.”

Several complaints were murmured across the classroom, an uproar that was highly contributed by the Marauders. It seemed that all of the Gryffindor students were just itching to start learning newer and more complex magic. Their professor tutted in response to their audible disapproval.

“Now now! You haven’t even heard the topic, what if it is interesting.”

“All due respect, Professor.” Sirius began, which was already a poor choice of words. “I honestly don’t think anything you assign us will be all that interesting” 

“Watch your tone, Mister Black!” McGonagall scolded. “I would hate for you to serve detention this early in the year.”

“You better watch it,” James whispered. “She might make you serve detention on the day of Quidditch tryouts.”

Sirius’ face ran pale in realization. Quidditch tryouts were in only a few days and if he wanted to make it he would need to be on the straight and narrow until then. “Sorry, Professor!” He apologized quickly.

“Apology accepted, but you have been warned,” her stern voice paired with the purposeful glare over the top of her glasses really made the message sink in.

For the rest of the class and the rest of the week for that matter, both Sirius and James were on their best behavior, by their standards at least. When Saturday finally rolled around, the pair were on the Quidditch pitch with several other Gryffindor students. 

“Hello! I am the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team,” A tall and lanky boy was addressing the students around him, from the build the two Marauders present assumed he was a beater. “I am so excited to see so many of you out here, but you should know that we are pretty limited on spots this year. Actually, we are only looking for three positions: a beater, a chaser, and an alternate. Understood?” Everyone nodded fervently. “Any of you who came here in pursuit of anything else may leave now if they wish.”

In the moments after the captain’s speech, a few students decided to leave, the current seeker, a fairly tall girl with large cat-eye glasses, shouted after them in a cheery tone, “I hope to see you all next year!”

“Thanks, Margot,” Their captain said with a smile. “Now with all of the introductions out of the way, let’s get started.”

“You never told them your name,” A short boy interjected, the boys recognized him as one of the team’s chasers.

“Right! Thank you for reminding me, Alvin. My name is Stanley, but you all can call me Stan… or captain if you prefer,” he added with a laugh. “Did I get everything,” Stan asked quietly to Margot who was close by. 

She looked down at the parchment she was holding and scanned it, “Nope you got it all, captain!”

“Thanks, M.G.– She is going to take over as captain next year, by the way, so you will see her helping a lot. Now let’s get to the fun stuff! Those who are going for chaser please stand on my left and those going for beater stand on my right.” At this point, Sirius and James had to split up. They were going for beater and chaser respectively, this decision was made not only because they wanted those positions, but also because they did not want to fight each other for the same spot on the team.

The next hour or so, the prospective team members ran drill after drill and went through several plays. Throughout the tryout, both James and Sirius did very well. The only other person who seemed to pose a threat was a boy who was in the year above them. Eventually, all of the students grouped back together and were granted a water break. During their cool-down period, Stanley and Margot went off to decide who would make the team. If they were not so sweaty and tired, James and Sirius might have been nervous. 

Their captain and second in command eventually came back carrying a verdict. “First of all, thank you all for coming out and doing your best. We wish we could take you all, but unfortunately, we don’t have enough space. So, the three of you that are going to be apart of the team are as follows: James Potter as a chaser, Sirius Black as a beater, and Mikael Rothkowitz as an alternate. The rest of you may be excused, but the three of you can follow M.G. to the locker rooms.”

In the Gryffindor Locker Room, they were given a locker for their stuff and shown the cupboard for their brooms. James and Sirius lucked out and had lockers right next to each other.

“Uniform fittings will be tomorrow after breakfast in Professor McGonagall’s classroom,” Stanley announced. “All team members must be present in case we need to modify your uniforms from last year. The practices are going to follow a schedule a little different than last year. Practices are Monday and Wednesday before breakfast. Once a month we will have strategy meetings after dinner in the library. I already got permission from Madame Pince to be there after hours.”

“Also the Tuesday before a game we are going to have practice during lunch to prepare,” Margot added.

“Right! Any questions?” Stan asked. No one spoke up so he decided to move on, “I’m excited to have you all on the team. You are all dismissed!”

James and Sirius were in high spirits as they headed back up to their dorm. They ran into Remus in the common room who was sitting by the fire. “Remus!” James shouted.

“Mooney!” Sirius was shouting at the same time.

“Boy do we have news for you!” James said in a playful sing-song voice.

“I take it you made the team,” It was more of a statement than a question and Remus’ eyes never left the pages of his book.

“That we did!” Sirius affirmed with a cheeky smile.

“That’s amazing guys,” Remus said, finally looking up. “I would give you a hug, but you’re both incredibly sweaty.”

“How rude, Mooney! If you don’t love me sweaty, you don’t deserve me clean,” Sirius joked. “But if you must know, I was going to shower anyway. Is Peter in the room?”

“Last I checked,” Remus said.

“Great, we need to tell him too!” James filled in, already on his way up the steps.

Peter was equally excited to hear that his friends made the team. As an avid Quidditch fan himself, he was looking forward to watching his dorm mates out on the pitch at matches. 

“I’m gonna hit the showers, you can jump in after,” Sirius announced to James.

“Sure thing, I’ve got to write to my parents about making the team!”

“I wish,” Sirius laughed, but James and Peter could hear the hurt in his tone.

“Oh, ‘M sorry mate,” James scratched the back of his neck, as he did when he was nervous or uncomfortable.

“Nah, it’s alright. I’ve got all you guys to congratulate me.”

“Yeah,” James said slowly, trying to say the right thing. “Plus, you still have to tell Marlene! I’m sure she’ll be excited.”

“You are totally right! I’ll have to find her at dinner,” Sirius smiled before disappearing into the bathroom.

“Pete, do you have a spare quill, I’ve lost all of mine.”

“You’re hopeless James, you lose everything,” Peter was already busy filing through his trunk to find a quill.

“I know I know,” James laughed. “I’m gonna get my parents to owl me some.”

“Well in the meantime, you can just take this one.”

“You sure? I don’t want to cut into your supplies.”

“No worries at all! I have loads of extras,” Peter handed the quill to his dorm mate with a smile.

“Alright, thanks mate. I owe you one!”

For the next half hour, James sat at the desk and wrote to his parents. He had not yet had the chance to speak to them, so there was an abundance of information to fill them in on. Despite it being very early in the year, much had happened to James, he was staying mostly on the good side of his teachers, all of his friends were well, he had made the quidditch team with the position he wanted, and to make matters even more exciting, his best friend was on the team with him. 

Things seemed to be shaping up to be a very good year for James, and that was something his mother would be thrilled about seeing as she always worried herself sick about the welfare of her only child. Once his letter was completely written out, he made the walk to the Owlrey so he could send it, after all, there was no reason for him to wait. 

Upon his return, the shower was finally available, but Sirius was nowhere to be found. James suspected that he decided to tell Marlene before dinner ever had the chance to arrive. Regardless of Sirius’ whereabouts, James proceeded with his day.

Nothing particularly notable happened in the second year classes. Seemingly it was the same as their first, just a little more complex. However, the school had just welcomed a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher on campus. No one was quite sure what had happened to Professor Ulinzi, and the fact that Professor Dumbledore would not tell them only furthered the mystery. Each of the Marauders had taken their turns proposing horrible reasons for why their former professor did not return, one of the most common themes was that the position was cursed.

The whole reason the position was “cursed” supposedly was that they had not had any teacher for over a year for a few decades now. Needless to say, each of the professors said multiple times that the curse rumor was false, but that never managed to convince the Marauders.

The new professor was a younger witch, who had graduated from Hogwarts around seven years ago. She seemed nice, but truthfully the students thought she was not fit to teach. It did not appear as though she knew what she was doing, and sure you could chalk it up to inexperience, but you could also chalk it up to the fact that she studied Arithmancy and not Defense Against the Dark Arts. 

Despite her painfully obvious lack of interest in the subject, Professor Dwarfwood was also astoundingly tall and the irony of her name was not lost on the Gryffindor boys. In this particular class, they were still reviewing what they had learned the previous term, and while it seemed redundant it was, at the very least, simple in all regards. At the very end of the class, the students were instructed to write a foot and a half of parchment on their favorite topic from the previous year. While this was the first assignment of the year, everyone could tell that it was not even close to the last.

The very next morning, as the Marauders sat at breakfast they discussed their chosen topics. James wrote of the fascinating curses they had discussed, Sirius wrote of the counterspells and defense strategies, Remus wrote of the magical beasts and monsters, and Peter wrote of the theories and written aspects of the class.

The swooping in of flurries of owls interrupted their conversations. As was custom, Peter’s parents sent him some sweets for the month as well as a letter. Remus had not received anything yet, but he was expecting something soon. James got a letter back from his parents with a parcel with goodies. None of the previous arrivals were surprising, but what was surprising was the letter and parcel that dropped in front of Sirius.

Despite his confusion, Sirius opened the letter almost instantaneously.

Dear Sirius,

While we have not had the chance to meet yet, we hope that can change in the near future. Our son, James absolutely adores you and we were thrilled to hear that he has such loyal and kindhearted friends, despite the trouble you sometimes manage to get into. Nevertheless, James informed us that you made the quidditch team. So we both wanted to wish you congratulations! We are sure that you will make a fantastic beater. We intend to ask Professor Dumbledore about coming to see a game where you and James play. We also sent you a little parcel with some sweets and some homemade pudding (it’s one of James’ favorites). You are also welcome to join us for the Christmas holiday or for some of your summer as long as you run it by your parents first. We are so proud of you and James, and I hope this doesn’t distract you from your studies.

XX Fleamont and Euphemia Potter

Sirius had to read some of that letter over again until it really sunk in. Had James’ parents truly taken the time to write him a letter? Even though he had never met them, he felt strangely emotional about receiving this. His parents rarely wrote him and when they did they were not kind letters by any means. He wiped a tear away from his eyes before they had a chance to fall. He looked up and made eye contact with his best friend.

“Is this your doing?” Sirius asked.

James shrugged, “I just mentioned that we made the team, this was all them.” James gave Sirius a sincere smile, Sirius was still quite convinced James asked them to do this, but either way Sirius was touched. Suddenly remembering the parcel he had received, he released the ties holding it together. On the inside, as promised, was a container of pudding, as well as a chocolate frog, some sugar quills, and a cauldron cake.

“No fair!” James exclaimed. “They gave you pudding! I didn’t even get pudding,” James fake pouted at Sirius.

“Oh relax, we can split it!” Sirius chuckled.

“Thanks, mate!” James said. “Also what wizard did you get in chocolate frog?”

“Haven’t opened it yet,” Sirius lifted the purple and gold box from his parcel and opened it slowly. Unfortunately, his reflexes weren’t quick enough and the frog jumped off of the table and onto the platform where the teachers were sitting. Of all days, this was quite possibly the worst to sit at the very front of the table. Sirius jumped up to grab the treat.

“What on earth are you doing!” Remus hissed under his breath. 

“I’m getting that chocolate, Mooney.”

“We are not allowed up there,” he shot back.

“It’ll only take a moment,” Sirius defended. Already crouching on the steps. He glanced around for a moment before spotting the now motionless candy just behind the stand Dumbledore makes his speech on. Once he grabbed it he stood up to show his friends. This proved to be a mistake as the terrified look on their faces signified trouble. Sirius turned around only to come face to face with his headmaster.

“Professor Dumbledore!” Sirius said, trying to sound casual. “I was just– well you see I-”

“What card did you get?” he asked calmly.

“Pardon, sir?” Sirius was wildly confused.

“With your chocolate frog, what is the card of?”

“Oh, um… I’m not sure, let me go check.” Sirius rushed back to his table and glanced in the box. “Alberic Grunnion,” Sirius announced once he had walked back to Dumbledore.

“Ah! The creator of the Dungbomb, quite a fitting card for a prankster like yourself. I would hold on to that one, it’s a little rarer than the rest of the lot.”

“Right,” Sirius said slowly, trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was not in trouble.

“Alright, well off you go! I wouldn’t want your breakfast to get cold,” The man smiled and his eyes seemed to almost twinkle behind his half-moon spectacles. With that, Sirius walked back to his table, unable to even explain to his friends the encounter he had just had. When as was said and done, he was just thankful it was not Professor McGonagall who discovered him.

“Wait!” James said. “You got a silver card! Can I have it?”

“Did you miss the whole story, James?” Remus laughed. “Our headmaster just told him to hold onto the card.”

“What card did you get James?” Sirius asked.

“Circe,” James read off the card.

“Well, what’d he do?”

“She,” Lily interjected. “Was a witch from ancient Greece. She lured sailors in and turned them into pigs.”

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist, Lily,” Sirius said. ”How was I supposed to know she was a girl.”

“She’s famous!” James and Lily said in unison. For the first time, Lily turned and looked at James in absolute admiration.

“Oh don’t look so shocked, Evans. I read too,” James laughed.

“Oh yeah?” Sirius asked. “Since when.”

“Shove off, Sirius. I’m better at Transfiguration than you’ll ever be.”

“Yeah but Sirius is beating you in everything else,” Lily laughed.

“Oh wow! So you’re both going to gang up on me,” James said incredulously to Sirius and Lily, but it was hard for him to seem serious when he fighting back a fit of giggles.

It was moments like this that solidified Hogwarts as home in Sirius’ mind and by extension James and Sirius and Remus and even Lily, were his family.


	4. The Tribulations of Blood Purity

While being brothers in the Black household carries a different weight, having to be at odds only adds more strain. Things were already bad enough being hated by the majority of his family, but having his own brother being forced to participate, that truly broke his heart. Tensions in his family were already pretty high, a fact that even Sirius was aware of. The week prior, Regulus had been sent a letter from his parents. In summary, the letter said that Andromeda had run off and eloped with a muggle-born Ravenclaw graduate. This came as a shock to everyone, except for Sirius of course. 

The day the letter arrived, Regulus “accidentally” bumped into Sirius in the hallway. During this interaction, he dropped a letter into his pocket. The letter was as simple as it gets: Astronomy Tower, midnight, I have news. So, as instructed Sirius made the trek up the stairs that night.

“Reg?” Sirius whispered 

“Hey!” Regulus said walking up to his older brother. “We should sit.”

“What’s happened?” Sirius asked.

“Well, the good news is, you might not be the only family disappointment anymore.” The first year was trying to make his brother laugh, but he missed the mark.

“The bad news?” Sirius said impatiently.

“Andromeda has been blasted off the family tree,” Regulus paused to let the information sink in. “She married this mudblood, um I think his name is Ed?”

“Ted,” Sirius corrected. “Ted Tonks.”

“Yeah, that's it! Anyways, Auntie and Mother were furious so I don’t think we will see her again.”

“What about Bella and Narcissa?” Sirius inquired.

“Completely turned against her, they support their mother more than her, she’s a traitor.”

“She’s not a traitor, Reg! She’s just in love.” Sirius said definitely.

“Why couldn’t she love someone more fitting of her status?”

“Unfortunately, that’s not how it works, you’ll understand when you’re older.”

“You're not that much older than me!” Regulus was getting grumpy, he did not like being treated like a child.

“Maybe not, but I am much wiser.” Sirius snapped back.

It just so happened that the brothers met again a few days later, it was not usual to meet this frequently, but matters warranted it. The chosen meeting place was beneath the western set of stairs that led to the fourth floor.

“Why the emergency meeting, Regulus? I’d like to actually sleep tonight.” Sirius’ tone was irritable.

“Oh sorry I forgot you had Astronomy last night, but I had to speak with you.” Regulus’ tone was hushed and fervent. “Something’s gonna happen, something bad.”

“Ugh, I’m gonna say this, even though its gonna make me sound like Mum and Dad, but cut to the chase! What’s going to happen?”

“Some Slytherin’s– not in my year, they’re much older–they’re planning on… finding you?”

“Is that a question or a fact,” Sirius drawled, his face was void of emotion.

“Well I didn’t hear everything, but they were talking about it in the common room, they want to, ‘show you what happens to blood traitors’, or at least that’s what I heard” Regulus looked seriously uncomfortable.

“And when is this supposed to happen?”

“I- I’m not quite sure, that’s why I didn’t want to wait to tell you.” Regulus’ breathing was heavy despite how quiet his voice was.

“Reg, calm down! It’s gonna be okay.” Sirius looked around before taking a deep breath, “I promise.” Sirius said this in the most convincing tone he could manage, but the truth was, he was scared out of his mind. Depending on how old these kids are, he is screwed.

“You promise?”

“Yeah, now you head up to bed, I’ll wait a few minutes in case there’s anyone in the halls.” 

Regulus smiled at his brother before turning to recede down the dark hallway, leaving Sirius with only his thoughts and the newly shifting staircase. After a few minutes, as promised, Sirius headed back to his dorm room. By now, all of his friends were asleep which was for the better because he did not want to explain what happened.

The next morning, Sirius contemplated faking sick and staying in the Hospital Wing for the day, but even he knew that was only delaying the inevitable. So, off to class, he went and to the best of his ability, he acted normal. Things went off completely without a hitch and by the time Sirius was conscious of this normality, he was already in bed.

While he was aware that he might truly never know when these Slytherins were going to “find him”, he figured that it was much worse to not know. He was constantly on edge and even three days after he had that talk with Regulus nothing had happened– or at least, not yet. 

It was the afternoon when Sirius finally allowed his anxiety to overpower his cool and he made a rash decision to leave dinner almost half an hour early. He grew to regret that decision as soon as he heard his name being shouted from down the hallway.

“Aye, Black!” a deep voice yelled. Sirius booked it down the corridor trying his best to outrun them. “I’m talking to you!” Dread was settled in Sirius’ stomach as he rounded the corner, but his legs fell out from under him. He knew immediately that he had been hexed and scrambled to get up to no avail. 

As the group of Slytherin’s caught up with him, one of them grabbed him by the tie and dragged him up. As he was pushed into a wall with a wand shoved in his face, Sirius knew he was screwed. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Sirius grit out.

“Why don’t you just shut the hell up, Black!” The boy in his face spits back at him.

“Or should we even call you that,” another boy said. “You’re a pretty sad excuse for a Black.” 

Sirius struggled to turn his head and see who was around him. The kid holding him against the wall, dropped him and he kept himself from hitting the floor to keep some of his dignity. As he looked at the kids surrounding him he saw an interesting group of people. There was Evan Rosier, a seventh year who he had met once or twice at weddings and pureblood events; Snape, he did not look too intimidating, but Sirius was wandless and outnumbered; then there was the kid who had pushed him into the wall, he was big and posed a serious physical threat to Sirius; there was only one more person…

“Regulus?” Sirius said, his voice breaking as he spoke. He shook his head, almost as if that would get the image of his baby brother standing with the enemy out of his head. Sirius sucked in a shaky breath and forced his tone to go steady. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

The kid who had once had him pinned punched him square on the jaw, and Sirius could taste the copper. “Who the hell said you could speak?”

“Lay off!” Regulus said, finally using his coward voice to speak up. “Probably just took him by surprise.”

“Actually,” Sirius said. “Of all the shit you snakes have pulled, this is the least surprising.”

“I thought we told you to keep your filthy blood traitor mouth shut,” Evan Rosier sneered. 

“You also thought Slytherin had a chance at the House Cup this year, we all make mistakes, Rosier” This turned out to be the wrong thing to say because Sirius was now on the receiving end of a hex. He was not sure exactly what, as he did not catch the spell he threw out, but it sure hurt. His whole body felt like it was on fire and all Sirius could manage was to grit his teeth and not let out and sound. A sound would be admitting defeat.

“I think he wants another, Evan,” Snape said. Sirius could not help but laugh, mostly out of pain, but also out of sheer irony. The laugh did not last long before he was hit with the same hex again, but this time he passed out.

Blinking back the darkness behind his eyes, Sirius came to. He was unsure of how long he had been crumpled on the floor, but the Slytherin goons were nowhere to be found. Once his vision was less blurry, he hoisted himself off the ground. He groaned and cradled his side, leaning against the wall until he felt steady.

Once he had staggered all the way back up to the Gryffindor tower, he felt a little calmer.

“Well, what’s happened to you?” The portrait of the fat lady inquired.

Sirius was too tired to explain, and instead just said the password, “Kneazle.”

While she might have seemed concerned, the portrait hole swung open nonetheless and Sirius ushered himself inside. As soon as he walked in his friends were in front of him.

“Where in the bloody hell have you been?” James asked before pausing and looking at his friend up and down. “Take that back, what happened to you?” He said in a less aggressive tone.

“You didn’t have to wait up,” Sirius said.

“Answer the question, Sirius,” Remus said. “Who the hell did this?”

“Does it matter?” Sirius snapped. “It's over, I’m going to bed.” Sirius pushed past his friends and started walking towards the dorm stairs.

“Will you please just talk to us!” Remus shouted after him.

Sirius whipped around with tears in his eyes and started yelling. “And say what, Mooney? That my own goddamn brother hates me. That the very last person who cared about me gave up? Sold me out?” Sirius shouted. “Is that what you want me to say? Or would you rather me talk about my physical health because that’s pretty shit right now too.”

Remus rubbed the bridge of his nose while he scrunched up his eyes. He looked like he was trying to find the words to say, “Look… I’m sorry!”

“We’re just worried about you,” James said.

“Well stop!” Sirius said. “I can handle my own family drama by now, thank you very much.”

Sirius turned and went up the stairs leaving his friends in his wake, speechless and concerned. When Remus and James went up to the dorm, Sirius was already under the covers and the drapes were drawn around his four-poster bed. Even they knew it would be best not to bother him, at least until the morning.

When the sun rose, James rose with it and he filled Peter in on what had happened the night previous. Remus and Sirius both were still in bed and James figured it was better for things to remain that way for as long as possible. 

Remus made it down just in time for breakfast, but Sirius did not show face until the second class they had that day. They were able to cover for him in Defense Against the Dark Arts, largely due to the incompetence of Professor Dwarfwood, but Transfiguration would not have been so easy. 

Although seeing him outside of the dorm was a nice surprise, seeing the bruises covering his jaw and the partial black in daylight was not heartwarming. Once the class had ended, Sirius was asked to stay after class and the rest of the Marauders spared him a shy smile before leaving the classroom.

The inevitable talk with McGonagall went about as well as you would think. She asked him where the bruises came from and he deflected and lied. After all his brother had done, Sirius still could not fathom ratting him or the other boys out. So after going round and round and offering him biscuit after biscuit, the professor eventually gave up and dismissed him.

Once Sirius had finally made it down to the Great Hall, he took his usual seat near his friends. He grabbed his food and took a deep breath, “Guys, I need to apologize about last night...”

“About that,” Remus said. “I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have pressed when you were clearly upset”

“You were just worried, I get it. I know I don’t look great right now,” Sirius said. “Trust me I don’t feel great either, but you guys are my best friends and I should have told you what happened, at least when I was ready.”

“Are you?” Peter asked.

“Huh?”

“Are you ready I mean,” Peter said, rushing. “And it’s totally fine if you aren’t by the way, we aren’t trying to pressure you.”

“Yeah, it was just some stuff with, Reg. He got involved with a crowd of Slytherins who came and… roughed me up last night and I kinda passed out, so that’s why I came back so late.”

“That’s awful!” Peter said.

“Who the hell was it?” James asked.

“No,” Sirius said. “I wanna be done with this, please don’t go mess with them.”

“Wait so Regulus was with them?” Remus asked.

“Yeah, he kinda stood up for me in a weird conceited way, but it didn’t help much because I was being pretty mouthy.”

James laughed at that, “When are you not, seriously it's a problem!”

“You should probably go to the Hospital Wing and get checked out,” Remus suggested. “I’m sure she won't pry if you tell her enough times that it was an accident or that you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Eh, I dunno...”

“Please, Sirius,” James said. “It would make us all feel better if we knew you weren’t gonna bleed out on us.”

“Alright alright, ‘mother James’” Sirius said mockingly, “I’ll go after lunch and miss class, happy?”

“Supremely!” James smirked.

“I’ll get your missed classwork for you,” Remus said.

“You always do, even when I beg you not to,” Sirius laughed. 

When the boys were finally finished with class they rushed down to the Hospital Wing to check on Sirius. When they entered they were happy to see that it was deserted and Madame Pomfrey was in her office, at least that meant they were not going to be told off for being rowdy.

“Did I miss anything important?” Sirius said, sitting up on the bed to make room for James to sit next to him.

“Loads,” Remus said. “James tried to sit next to Lily in Transfiguration… it didn’t go well.”

“Shove off, Rem,” James said bitterly. “She likes me deep down, she’s just playing hard to get.”

“Sure sure,” Sirius agrees fakely. “I’m sure that’s what’s going on.”

“It is!” James protested. “But besides that, classes were boring and we have way too much bloody homework.”

“Ugh, what if I happen to be… hurt” Sirius put air quotes around the word, “for a few more days?”

“Don’t put quotes around hurt, you literally got hexed,” Peter said worriedly. 

“Yeah, but I feel all better now, so can we all move on,” the tone in which Sirius said those words really left no room for argument. Besides, Remus and James still felt bad for the blow-up they had the night before. Needless to say, they all decided to let it go and shifted the conversation to the Quidditch practice that James and Sirius had that afternoon.

“Do you want me to talk to Stan, I’m sure he’d be fine if you missed a practice… you know until you feel better.”

“I feel fine, James. Besides, I know you just want a chance to catch up to my amazing Quidditch skills. It’s not gonna happen though.”

“Bullshit,” James laughed. “I can fly circles around you on the pitch and you know that.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, James.”

After a while, Madame Pomfrey emerged from her office and shooed the boys out of the Hospital Wing, ensuring that Sirius could join them in an hour for dinner if he rested. Sirius begrudgingly agreed to take a nap, mostly because he needed to make it to practice, but also because he was a little tired. When dinner rolled around, Sirius sat with his friends and ate his fill, his heart buzzing with excitement about practice.

Things at practice went fine, they ran drills and talked over some of the plays they had not really worked on yet. Sirius had nearly forgotten about the events of the previous night until he saw Regulus sitting in the stands. He was waving a small piece of paper. 

Probably a note, Sirius thought to himself. Rage filled his body so quickly he did not realize he had aimed a bludger at where his brother was sitting. Fortunately, his brother was gifted with quick reflexes and he ducked. Once he had recovered from the shock, he scampered off the field, a hurt look on his face.

Sirius could not even find it within himself to feel bad about Regulus, after the events of last week, he was unsure of when or if their relationship could be mended. Shaking his head as if that would clear the thoughts, Sirius rejoined practice.

“Oi! Sirius,” James said. “Was that Regulus?”

“Erm, yeah.”

“What did he want.”

“I dunno, we didn’t talk much,” Sirius wanted to get off the subject and it seemed as though James understood because he soon dropped it and went off.

For the rest of the week, Sirius made no attempt to talk to his brother and the same went for Regulus. Despite his anger, deep down Sirius was afraid he was no longer going to have anyone to confide in at home. All he could hope was that his brother would find a way to stay safe in Slytherin without having to pull another stunt like that, or else it would be the end for them.


End file.
